From Ritz to Rubble: Here’s all the Arctic Monkeys’ albums ranked

With the Arctic Monkeys returning with their new album, The Car, tomorrow, we grab our keys and drive back down memory lane for the ultimate ranking of the band’s best albums. We may already know the tracklist, but the wait to hear what the four lads from Sheffield have to offer is, for many, torturous. In the meantime, we’re giving a rundown from their  2006 debut Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m Not, to their latest effort we heard four years ago with Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino…

6) Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino (2018)

Coming in at number 6 is the latest instalment of the Arctic Monkeys’ discography. Of course, the band don’t necessarily have a “worst” album, but this project felt more unreliable in its plot than its predecessors, and swam in the pools of sometimes indecipherable commentary rather than the charming wit we know and love. The Guardian described it as “thrilling, smug, clever and oddly cold” and many critics agreed, but a fair few fans yearned for the sounds of old Arctic Monkeys that weren’t so “Sci-Fi Spandau Ballet”. Saying this, the abstract quality of lead singer and songwriter Alex Turner’s lyrics presents an artful satire that inspires excitement for how this could be followed with their new album. It was in Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino that the nostalgic tinge to Arctic Monkeys was invented and it led to a multitude of themes and metaphors that narrate this new modern life, which is, after all, what Turner does best. 

5) Humbug (2009)

In fifth place, we see the third studio album of Arctic Monkeys bring about a darkness in the band. NME called it their “most divisive album yet”, but it ultimately expanded the lads’ outlook on where they could go next. It was rejected by a batch of critics and fans, but remains firm in the hearts of those that remember it blaring in their Tumblr-inspired room. Opening with ‘Crying Lightning’, we see a deeper, more aggressive side to the band, adding theatrical guitar and intricate extended metaphors, which goes on to be balanced out by ‘Cornerstone’ later on. Lyrics of “Close enough to be your ghost / But my chances turn to toast” equate to some of Turner’s best vocals. However, an album is only as good as its headlining love song, hence why Humbug takes its seat firmly at fifth. 

4) Suck It and See (2011)

Two years after Humbug, Suck It and See conjured a tenderness to challenge any of its influences — to which Turner credits great country stars like George Jones. Here we see Arctic Monkeys find their footing in understanding that their bleak comedy and two-fingers to their muse are of course important, but can never reach the heights of their honest confessions to head-over-heels love. Critics from Clash said that “the Monkeys’ celebrated mischievousness is only really apparent in the lyrics – it’s never fully unleashed in the music”. At the same time, fans felt it found the “perfect balance between Humbug, a darker and somewhat experimental album, and the ‘poppiness’ of their debut and sophomore album.”  Shrugging off any doubt, the album sparkles in its dull imagery of “belly-button piercings in the sky at night” and asking “Does it tune you in when you chew your chin?” 

3) Favourite Worst Nightmare (2007)

The Arctic Monkeys’ second album is an ode to romance in its rawest sense. A critics’ favourite, the images shifted from boozers and band antics into the bickering between a ballsy protagonist and his love interest. This narration reigns throughout, but this time, we see sheer affection and the pain of total vulnerability. Then of course, we have ‘Flourescent Adolescent’ — the anthem of our all of our coming-of-age stories, which is now hailed as a ballad about ageing, sex and nostalgia. This was also around the time Turner started to date Alexa Chung, so many of us have fond fan memories of reading his napkin love letter over and over to the tones of ‘505’.

2) AM (2013)

A serious decision was made here so please hold all judgements. This album is a fan favourite and rightly so.  Rolling Stone described the relentless lust for love in one swift swoop, as “a delicate Velvet Underground lullaby and straight love-soldier crooning”. Turner’s lyrics have matured, and this album holds his wisest. He says it best through the words of 80s poet John Cooper Clarke in the final song “I Wanna Be Yours”, with “I wanna be your Ford Cortina / I will never rust”. Turner basks in the grey haze that loomed over his golden years, and we are ever-grateful for the invite behind his closed doors, even if only for the 41 minutes of AM. 

1) Whatever People Say I Am, That Is What I Am Not (2006)

There’s a reason the first album the Arctic Monkeys ever made hit number one and won a Mercury Prize upon release. Easily one of the best debut albums of our generation, the band already had a number one song under their belt with “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor” and blew the roof off with their tunes of young dumb antics and cheeky northernisms about life in Sheffield. Shoutouts to “Mardy Bum”, “When The Sun Goes Down” and “A Certain Romance” for encapsulating a culture in a bottle and releasing a whole new one in the making.